1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to digital content protection technologies, and in particular, to protecting digital content by linking stored content to particular host systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The importance of digital content protection has increased as the widespread distribution and use of digital content has become more common. Both content providers and end users desire to control how and when digital content is accessed and used. As electronic devices, such as personal computers, phones, music devices, and video devices, have proliferated, so has the need for improved digital content protection.
In the prior art, many software and hardware based techniques have been utilized to protect digital content. For example, digital content is often times processed using a software or hardware process executed on the host system portion of a device to encrypt or otherwise encode the content. The protected content is then transferred to the storage system portion of the device, or to a removable storage element, for storage. Upon retrieving the content from storage, the content is typically decrypted or decoded on the host system by the software or hardware process.
One problem with content protection solutions in the prior art is that, even if content can be strongly encrypted or encoded, many storage systems can be easily ported to new host systems. As a result, the encrypted content stored on the ported storage system can be accessed and the encryption eventually defeated. In one example, porting digital content to a new host system may be contrary to the wishes of a content provider. In another example, porting content to a new host system may be contrary to the wishes of an end user. Thus, a solution is needed to efficiently and cost effectively link stored digital content to particular host systems.